Adelino Fontoura Chaves (March 30, 1859 – May 2, 1884) was a Brazilian poet, actor and journalist. He is the patron of the 1st chair of the

Brazilian Academy of Letters The Academia Brasileira de Letras (ABL) ( English: ''Brazilian Academy of Letters'') is a Brazilian literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its foundation on Tue ...

Life

Adelino Fontoura was born in the city of Axixá, in

Maranhão Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins and ...

, to Antônio Fontoura Chaves and Francisca Dias Fontoura. Since as a child, he would have a very strong friendship with future author

Artur Azevedo Artur Nabantino Gonçalves de Azevedo (7 July 1855 – 22 October 1908) was a Brazilian playwright, short story writer, chronicler, journalist and Parnassian poet. He is famous for consolidating in Brazil the "comedy of manners" genre, initiated ...

. Moving to

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

, he would work at the satirical journal ''Os Xênios''. Returning to Maranhão, he initiated his artistical career, performing in a play that would make him arrested. After this incident, he moved to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

. He tried the artistic and the journalistic career, failing in the first one. He wrote for journals ''Folha Nova'', ''O Combate'' and ''A Gazetinha'', where he published some poems and works in prose — and, in this last one, he would collaborate once more with Azevedo, who was its founder. Alongside Ferreira de Menezes, Augusto Ribeiro, Hugo Leal and João de Almeida, he would work for the journal ''A Gazeta da Tarde'', that was, according to Múcio Leão, "one of the most ill-fated journals ever founded", because its founders would die in the next three years after the journal's existence. After the ''Gazeta da Tarde'' was bought by

José do Patrocínio José Carlos do Patrocínio (October 9, 1854 – January 29, 1905) was a Brazilian writer, journalist, activist, orator and pharmacist. He was among the most well-known proponents of the abolition of slavery in Brazil, and known as "O Tigre da Ab ...

, Adelino becomes its correspondent in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Already very sick, his situation got worse due to the harsh French winter, what made him move to Lisbon in an unsuccessful attempt to get better. He died with only 25 years, without publishing any book.

Work

As mentioned above, Fontoura's work is very sparse, as he did not published anything during his lifetime. Attempts of compiling his poetry were made during the 1940s and 1950s by Múcio Leão. His most well-known poem is the sonnet "Celeste".

External links

Works by Fontoura at the official site of the Brazilian Academy of Letters

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontoura, Adelino 1859 births 1884 deaths People from Maranhão Brazilian male actors Brazilian journalists 19th-century Brazilian male actors Patrons of the Brazilian Academy of Letters Portuguese-language writers 19th-century journalists Male journalists 19th-century Brazilian poets Brazilian male poets 19th-century Brazilian male writers